Kings GM Dean Lombardi says Jonathan Quick could be out until Christmas

When goaltender Jonathan Quick suffered a groin strain while making a save during the Kings’ shootout loss Nov. 12 to the Buffalo Sabres, the original estimate was he would be sidelined between four and six weeks.

Kings general manager Dean Lombardi confirmed that diagnosis during an interview with a Canadian radio program Wednesday. He said Quick would be out for at least another month and possibly could be sidelined until Christmas at the earliest.

“It’s going to be a while,” Lombardi said of Quick, who was 10-5-0 with a 2.35 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage with one shutout in 16 games before he was hurt. “At least another month. We’re probably looking, if things go according to plan, at Christmas.”

The Kings have suffered a string of injuries to key players, including Quick, forwards Jeff Carter (broken foot), Kyle Clifford (concussion) and Jarret Stoll (upper body) and defenseman Matt Greene. Stoll has returned to the lineup, but there’s no timetable for the others.

It’s a sharp contrast to the Kings’ fortunes the last few seasons, especially during their march to the Stanley Cup in 2011-12. Last season, the Kings played without Greene (back) for most of the season and defenseman Willie Mitchell (knee) for all of it, but otherwise were healthy.

“When we won the Stanley Cup, we went 16-4 and every night we played the same lineup,” Lombardi said, referring to the Kings’ relatively pain-free playoff run. “That’s unheard of. Last year, we got a little taste of (injuries) with Mitchell and Greene being out all year.

“But we’ve never been wiped out like this where you lose Clifford, Greene and Carter and Quick. But every team has that at some point. And they’re going to have to fight their way through it.”

So, for an extended period, the Kings’ No. 1 goaltending job belongs to Ben Scrivens, who was acquired along with forward Matt Frattin during the offseason in a trade that sent backup goalie Jonathan Bernier to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Martin Jones, a rookie, is Scrivens’ backup.

“Our goalie coaches, Bill Ranford and Kim Dillabaugh, do a great job with all the goalies on our food chain,” Lombardi said. “They had scouted Ben quite a bit before we made the deal. There were some holes in his game and we started to try to clean those up. We’ve still got some work to do.

“The one thing about Ben that he has done is he has worked extremely hard. It’s nice to see him be rewarded.”

The Kings have won four consecutive games after Scrivens replaced Quick in the game against the Sabres. Scrivens’ shutout streak ended after 191 minutes, 19 seconds, but the Kings still subdued the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 on Tuesday.

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Scrivens is 5-1-1 overall with a 1.35 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage plus three shutouts. He led the NHL in goals-against average, save percentage and shutouts. Scrivens shut out tonight’s opponent, the New Jersey Devils, 2-0 the last time the teams played, Nov. 15 in Newark.

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Anze Kopitar had a goal and an assist in Tuesday’s victory over Tampa Bay, giving him 10 points in his last nine games (five goals, five assists). Justin Williams leads the Kings with eight goals, Dwight King has seven and Kopitar has six.